ABC SCORES AS NOMINATIONS FOR THE 6TH ANNUAL AACTA AWARDS ANNOUNCED

Sydney, Australia; Thursday, 27th October 2016: Nominations for the 6th annual AACTA Awards were today announced, with numerous ABC Commercial distributed programs, along with the actors, actresses and creatives behind them, receiving nods of recognition from the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts in the lead up to the awards ceremony to be held on Wednesday, 7th December, 2016.

ABC Commercial titles received 33 nominations overall, with drama series The Beautiful Lieleading all television series with nine nominations, including ‘best telefeature or mini series’, ‘best lead actress in a television drama’ honours for Sarah Snook and ‘Best guest or supporting actress in a television drama’ honours for Celia Pacquola. The series was also nominated for ‘best screenplay’, ‘best cinematography’, ‘best editing’, ‘best sound’, ‘best production design’ and ‘best costume design’.

The ABC’s hit dramas Jack Irish and Rake were also honoured with nominations for ‘best television drama series’, with Rake picking up an additional six nominations, including a ‘best lead actor in a drama series’ nomination for Richard Roxburgh, ‘best guest or supporting actor’ honours for Russell Dykstra and ‘best guest or supporting actress’honours for Caroline Brazier. The critically acclaimed criminal drama series Janet King also received two nominations at this year’s awards, including ‘best editing’ and a guest actor nomination for Hamish Michael.

Upper Middle Bogan and Black Comedy were each nominated for ‘best television comedy series’, with Robyn Butler and Wayne Hope also recognised in the ‘best screenplay’ category for their New Kids on the Block episode of Upper Middle Bogan. Black Comedy’s Leah Purcell was also honoured with a nomination for ‘best performance in a television comedy’, along with Alison Bell for her performance in her ABC Comedy Showroom pilot The Let Down.

Both Luke Warm Sexand Gruen were nominated for ‘best light entertainment television series’, with the Luke McGregor sex life tell-all also picking up honours for ‘best direction’.

Walkley award-winning journalist Sarah Ferguson’s investigation into Australia’s domestic violence crisis, Hitting Home, was honoured with two nominations, including ‘best documentary television program’ and ‘best editing in a documentary’, marking the second year running Sarah Ferguson has been recognised with a nomination in this category.

Finally, both The Deep and Play School were nominated for ‘best children's television series’, with The Deepalso receiving a nod for ‘best original music score in television’.

The 6th Annual AACTA Awards ceremony will be held at The Star Event Centre in Sydney on Wednesday, 7th December 2016. The complete list of ABC Commercial distributed titles that received nominations is as below: